Beekeeping on a shoestring budget

[cinnamon]

After pestering my local BKA a few more times, they emailed back and said 2 spaces available. Of course, husband had to be roped in! Roll on end of April for the course. Well pleased! Unlike Kate Humble's course, this is only £35.
Apologies for if I sounded like I am in dire need (i.e "shoestring budget") but after keeping chickens and forking out a very large sum of money and later realising it can be done for a fraction of the cost, I thought I'd explore if there are cheaper options. Loved my Omlet Eglu - it worked really well for backyard chickens (bantams) and looked pretty. It was definitely a great way to keep chickens as pets and enjoy their eccentric ways - but I didn't want to do the same thing with bees now that we've moved away and live in the countryside.

 

[pargyle]

After pestering my local BKA a few more times, they emailed back and said 2 spaces available. Of course, husband had to be roped in! Roll on end of April for the course. Well pleased! Unlike Kate Humble's course, this is only £35.
Apologies for if I sounded like I am in dire need (i.e "shoestring budget") but after keeping chickens and forking out a very large sum of money and later realising it can be done for a fraction of the cost, I thought I'd explore if there are cheaper options. Loved my Omlet Eglu - it worked really well for backyard chickens (bantams) and looked pretty. It was definitely a great way to keep chickens as pets and enjoy their eccentric ways - but I didn't want to do the same thing with bees now that we've moved away and live in the countryside.

I don't think any apologies are needed - it's a good thread for anyone thinking about starting to keep bees but don't have £700 to cough up for a Rolls Royce start ... lots of good ideas in here and the reality is that every beekeeper, once they get going, realises that saving money on what you buy is the only reliable way to break even on a hobby. The variables of bees, forage, weather, location, beekeeper error, disease, infestation, vandalism, theft ... need I go on ... are less easy to control and these are the factors that control your honey crop.

If you are wealthy enough to keep bees as pets then that's fine - but the majority of hobby beekeepers that I come into contact with want to see their hobby costing them as little as possible ... and perhaps, in a good year, making a small contribution to the cost of ... A BIGGER EXTRACTOR !!!